Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has announced that a proposal for a ban on alcohol advertising has been approved by an inter-ministerial committee on substance abuse. The bill is set to include:

• A ban on alcohol advertising
• A ban on alcohol companies sponsoring sports events and teams
• A ban on alcohol promotions at events
• A ban on brand names being displayed on delivery vehicles

The bill is yet to be approved by a cabinet committee, then by the cabinet itself, before being released to parliament and the public. So it’s not set in stone…yet.

The Health Department wants to reduce drinking in the country by 20% by 2020, and some “experts” claim that advertising causes young people to start drinking earlier. However, Economist Rob Jeffrey said that, “Most alcohol abuse takes place in the illegal and unbranded liquor sector”, and a study by Econometrix found that there was no “statistical relationship between advertising expenditure and the consumption of alcohol in South Africa”.

If alcohol advertising is banned, it is estimated that 1,200 jobs could be lost in the advertising industry alone. The SABC would lose R500 million in advertising revenue. Similar alcohol advertising bans in Canada, New Zealand and Denmark have been revoked because they showed “no evidence of reducing alcohol abuse”.

[Source : Sunday Times]